AITD: Chapter 6

DAY 6 – CHAPTER 6

TIME SPENT: 30 minutes
ACHIEVEMENTS: 2 (Meet Again, THE TRUTH)
FOCUS: Storyline

Well here’s a rather unsatisfying level. Not because of the gameplay or anything, but because it was so short! While the other levels have taken 40 minutes at least (more with dying and such), I breezed through this one in under a half hour, and that includes getting momentarily stumped with a puzzle and screwing around trying to do something that I gave up on (there was a high ledge I was trying to get to because I just KNOW it has health spray or something equally useful on it).

Actually though, it’s a good level. Nothing really annoyed me, the puzzles were fun (you get to use a forklift!), enemy combat is kept to a manageable amount, and a lot of exposition is delivered.

Which is why I want to talk about the game’s story. Having never played any of the others, and seeing no connection to the movie, I’ve been sort of in the dark so far. I know Edward Carmby was the protagonist of the other games, but those took place in the 1920s. His age is mentioned in one of the earlier levels, but as to why he is seemingly immortal, they haven’t quite explained. In fact, a lot of the plot is sort of mystical mumbo jumbo so far, and seems largely inconsequential. I’ve played a lot of story heavy games lately (Mass Effect, for example) so maybe I’m just spoiled, but the plot development here is uneven at best. This level gives you lots of info, but previous levels have gone by without any real advancement to the story. All you have to do is watch the “Previously, on Alone in the Dark” sequence before each level and see which ones are important and which are filler.

Another issue is that while I get the gist of what is going on, it’s not really drawing me in to the point where I am truly interested in seeing its conclusion. Even though half the game was just filler, I was truly curious if Nico would ever find the guy he was looking for in GTAIV, and also if he would ever fuck Kate, which kept me going until the end. Here, my primary objective in completing the game is for the theoretical cool points I get for sticking with it despite all the annoyances. It may be laughable at times, but if nothing else, Metal Gear Solid never lets you forget the storyline because the cutscenes are equal to the amount of gameplay, and perhaps they should have followed suit here.